UCF Diversity Week, October 16 – 20, is a celebration of our diverse community and an opportunity to explore topics across the broad range of human identity, experience, and interaction. Diversity Week activities are intended to stimulate our campus and move us to a more inclusive culture. The theme for 2017 is Transform and Inspire Inclusion.

As part of the UCF Libraries’ enthusiastic support of maintaining an inclusive space in the UCF community, we are offering several workshops and activities through the week. The workshops include a Zine Workshop, fiber art demonstration, and how to start a family search. The first of our additional activities is just inside the entrance to the library where students can add a leaf to our tree saying how they inspire inclusion at UCF. The second activity is a map on the 3rd floor where faculty, staff, and students can place a pin in the area where they and their families have lived.

October is American Archives Month! And today, October 4th, is #AskAnArchivist day. However, you can ask the archivists at UCF any questions any day so this year we decided to ask our interns, who may be archivists in the future, and employees about archives in general.

So first, what is an archive?

“An archive can best be defined as a collection of significant items that are preserved for the purpose of research. There are many types of archives that have special subjects attached to them, but most are general in what is stored within them: publications, documents, ephemera, and even art. The history behind the items can help a researcher get to an understanding and answer questions that would otherwise linger as unanswered.” –Steven Trelstad, History graduate intern

“An archive can be a physical place such as a large and insulated room in a library, museum or government building that houses its collections in boxes placed on shelves. An archive can also be an online entity where the collections are stored digitally.” – Bryan McDonough, History undergraduate intern

Every October UCF celebrates Diversity Week. This year’s dates are October 16 – 20, and the theme is Transform and Inspire Inclusion. University-wide departments and groups champion the breadth and culture within the UCF community, and work to increase acceptance and inclusion for everyone at UCF and the surrounding communities.

One of the fantastic things about UCF is the wide range of cultures and ethnicities of our students, staff, and faculty. We come from all over. We’re just as proud of where we are from as we are of where we are now.

Join the UCF Libraries as we celebrate diverse voices and subjects with the suggestions in the link below. You can also see a physical display with these books on the 2nd floor of the John C. Hitt Library next to the bank of two elevators.

During spring and summer 2017, a total of 105 new electrical outlets were installed in the John C. Hitt Library.
Many are quads, meaning 4 devices can be plugged into the outlet. All have a USB connector. 9 are currently “in process”, almost completed. A few are “swap-outs”, replacing old outlets. But most are completely new, bringing power to seats where it was previously inaccessible.

24 outlets are on the 2nd (main) floor.29 outlets are on the 3rd floor.52 are on the 4th floor.